The Arrest · 2019-09-16 · ridiculous after Jesus has already, just now, told them that He is Jesus of Nazareth. But this was the plan. So they had to go on with the plan, but it

Transcript - NT504 The Gospels/The Life of Christ

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LESSON 21 of 24NT504

The Arrest

The Gospels/The Life of Christ

Terry C. Hulbert, Th.D.Distinguished Professor Emeritus at

Columbia Biblical Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina

Let’s pray together. Our Father, as we contemplate the terrible treatment of the Lord Jesus by those who were rejecting Him, who understood so little of who He was and what He had come to do and who did not perceive His love, we can hardly understand their blindness and their insensitivity and their cruelty. And yet we know, Lord, that our hearts hold the seeds of the same reaction, that we are sinners and that we’re only saved by grace. We pray, Father, that You will help us to perceive exactly what took place so that we may understand more of the evil hearts of men, that we may understand more of the loving heart of your son. We pray that we’ll appreciate, in the deepest sense, the significance of the events that we are about to study, for we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

We come now to the betrayal and arrest of the Lord Jesus in the garden. We have seen that He has been over here in the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples praying and Judas, in the meantime, has apparently gone with the soldiers to the place where the upper room was and now has followed the group over to the Mount of Olives. In John’s account (18:2) we read, “Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples.” Judas, then, received the Roman cohort from the chief priest and the Pharisees. There is a footnote that indicates the cohort had 600 men in it. [It was] probably not the whole cohort, but quite a few people, because they were very much afraid of the supporters of Christ that came from Galilee and elsewhere. They came with their lanterns and torches and weapons. John 18:4: “And Jesus knowing all the things that were coming upon Him.” [This is] an important statement. This did not take Him by surprise. It was not something that was forced upon Him that He couldn’t handle, as some people would indicate.

Now He asks this question twice. The first time He says, “Whom do you seek?” (John 18:4). And they said, “Jesus, the Nazarean” (John 18:5). He says, “‘I am He.’ And Judas, who was betraying



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Him, was standing with them” (John 18:5). I think that is mentioned almost as though it’s recording where their eyes have turned and they have seen Judas standing there. And Peter and Andrew and Thomas and the rest are trying to process this in their minds, “What’s Judas doing standing there?” And when, therefore, He said to them, “I am He” (John 18:6). Then, “They drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:6). They were apparently paralyzed. [This is] the very opposite reaction that we would expect. We would expect that they would move in and arrest Him at this moment, but they are not able to; they’re paralyzed. They fall to the ground, not in surprise, not in shock, but because Jesus apparently has intervened and paralyzed them. I think this also indicates that He was in control of the situation. He could have walked out of there and left them paralyzed until they rotted.

And again He asks them (this is the second time), “Whom do you seek?” (John 18:7). He’s driving this point home, “Exactly who is it you want?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth” (John 18:7). Now we understand why He asked the questions. He said, “I told you that I am He. If therefore you seek Me, let these go their way, that their words may be fulfilled, of those whom thou has given Me I have lost none” (John 18:8-9). This is a reference by to His high priestly prayer.

So the reason He is going through this sequence is to protect His followers. Obviously, they may well have been arrested with Him and tried with Him and even crucified with Him. So He is very carefully and clearly distinguishing between the two groups. And He gets a commitment from them, in a sense, that if He will release them from the paralysis, that He will go with them and that they will not arrest the disciples.

Now in Mark’s account, 14:44, we read that Judas had given a signal, “Whomever I shall kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away under guard.” Can you imagine Judas saying this? Then in Matthew’s account, 26:49, immediately he [Judas] went to Jesus and said, “Hail Rabbi!” and kissed Him. You know this identification seems to be a little bit redundant and almost ridiculous after Jesus has already, just now, told them that He is Jesus of Nazareth. But this was the plan. So they had to go on with the plan, but it does become a bit out of place. And in Luke’s account, Jesus says, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss” (Luke 22:48). This kiss, of course, was the kiss of greeting.



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We would have, in our culture, said, “It’s the one I go up and shake hands with.” This was the double kiss that is still used in that culture. In Matthew’s account: “Friend, what have you come for?” (Matthew 26:50). And in Mark’s account: “They laid hands on Him and seized Him” (Mark 14:46). In [chapter] 22:49 of Luke’s account: “Lord, shall we strike them with the sword?”

And then we find an interesting record here. That three of the Gospel writers indicate that one of their group struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. But, they don’t name him. But John names him. Perhaps John names him because it is so long after the event. I don’t know. But John just comes out and he says, “Simon Peter therefore, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s, slave and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus” (John 18:10). Notice the detail here. Only John tells us that it was his right ear. This may indicate that Peter was left-handed. Peter wasn’t trying to cut off his ear. This was not an “ear-ectomy” that he was working on. He was trying to cut off his head, but apparently he ducked.

But listen, he tried. He said that “I’ll go with You even to the death.” He said, “I love you more than these, I’ll risk my life,” (Mark 14:29) and he meant it. And Peter was not a coward. He followed through on his promise. He really meant it, because this took a lot of courage. I don’t think he expected to sort of lean back alive from this thing. A half a dozen swords would be through him for having done this, very possibly.

But Jesus now surprises them all. In Luke’s account, He touches his ear and heals it (Luke 22:51). The last miracle of Jesus absolutely blew Peter away. How would you feel if you were Peter? You had risked your life. You had made a commitment. You made a promise that you will do more than anybody else. You’ll protect Him even to the death. He’s now about to be arrested. You intervene. You swing with all you’ve got. You don’t make too good of a job of it, but you really tried. Your heart was in the right place even if your hand wasn’t. And now the ear falls to the ground and the blood drips down, and Jesus touches where the ear was. The ear is perfect as it was five minutes before. The blood is dried up, and Malchus doesn’t know what has really happened. He reaches up, and there’s the ear. And you’re Peter. Now how do you feel about this? Don’t you feel foolish in front of the other disciples? Don’t you feel embarrassed? Hasn’t your pride been hurt? No wonder Peter followed far off. Peter didn’t suddenly become a coward.



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He suddenly became a pouter. He was not a coward. He never was a coward. But his pride had been hurt and, in effect, he is saying, “If you don’t need me, I don’t need you.” And later on, when he’s asked three times, “Aren’t you a follower of His? He said, “No, I’m not a follower of His.” His pride has been hurt. The incident with Malchus’ ear made the difference in Peter’s life, and it was a little thing, in a way.

No wonder Jesus, prior to this, had said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to sift you as wheat. I am praying for you, that your faith fail not” (Luke 22:31-32). And at the end of Mark’s account, on that page, we see the young man who was following them wearing nothing but a linen sheet (possibly John Mark, we don’t know). In Matthew’s account, 14:56: “Then all the disciples left him and fled.” This brings us now to the trials, to the series of the trials. And as we think about the trials, we must think of the fact of the trials and the reasons for the trials.

There were a series of trials. Often we hear the statement made, “at the trial of Christ”. There were actually two series of trials with three trials each. There were three religious trials, we might call them, and there were three civil trials. And we must distinguish the parts of these.

First of all, why there were trials in the first place, of course, is because the Sanhedrin did not have the right to put a man to death by crucifixion. In fact, they did not have the right to pass the death sentence. But if they had passed the death sentence and had it approved by the Roman authorities (namely, Pontius Pilate), then they would have been given permission to stone the person. But Jesus was to be put to death by crucifixion, by His own prediction and by the prediction of Psalm 22.

So this had to have Roman involvement. So they had to work around toward this, first of all, to get the death sentence and then to get the crucifixion. Not that they were trying to fulfill prophecy, but they wanted this man put to death in the most cruel possible way. They wanted to be rid of Him. So He is now brought to a series of three religious trials. Usually when we think of a trial, we think of determining guilt. This was perhaps one of the few, if not the only, trial in history that was not held to determine guilt, but rather to produce a death sentence. This was the purpose of it.



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As we look at the three religious trials, we find that the first one takes place before Annas and the second and third take place before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. Caiaphas, of course, being the high priest at that time, would be the moderator, the chairman, of the Sanhedrin.

First of all, He’s taken to Annas. Now we need to notice the purpose of each of these trials. The ultimate purpose of all of them, of course, is to find Jesus guilty of a charge that the Romans would accept as being worthy of death, even so serious that they would themselves be willing to put Him to death by crucifixion. This was a tall order. And it was very, very difficult. And it was only by the narrowest of margins they actually accomplished their purpose.

In section 228, “And led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year” (John 18:13). You see a footnote on that distinction. It mentions that Caiaphas was the one who would advise the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people (John 18:14). I like the way John keeps referring back to these things. He says, “Nicodemus—he’s the one who came by night.” “Caiaphas—in case you’ve forgotten who he was—he’s that one.” He [John] identifies him. That, of course, was in John 11:45—that we spent some time on in connection with the resurrection of Lazarus.

“Before Annas” (John 18:3). Why before Annas? Annas was apparently still “the power behind the throne,” we might say. Even though Caiaphas, his son-in-law, was high priest, Annas was highly respected. In that kind of a culture, age would tell, age would mean something. He had had great authority, and he, we might say, was the most powerful person de facto in all of Jerusalem and in Judaism, for that matter.

Why did they bring him before Annas? Because there was still doubt as to whether or not they should proceed with this. There was still a high element of danger here. The crowds could revolt, the Galileans were there, among them the Zealots, and there were the people who were very impressed with the raising of Lazarus. And Jerusalem at this time was packed with people who were not just from Jerusalem. It was packed with people, many of whom would be favorable to Jesus. And this could very easily turn against the Sanhedrin, if they tried to move on this. Granted, Judas was in the picture, but they were still cautious.



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And so what they were doing was trying to get Annas’ blessing on this.

So as Annas examines Him [Jesus]. He questions Him on two matters: first of all, in 18:19, about His disciples; and second about His teaching. We might say, “It’s about the influence He’s had, how wide His influence is with reference to the disciples, and what He’s actually teaching.”

Between verses 15 and 18 incidentally, there is this interesting story about how Simon Peter gets there and John gets there. We learn that John was known to the high priest and was allowed in without question (John 18:15), but Peter was standing by the door outside (John 18:16). I’m speculating that Peter got there a little bit later. He didn’t stay up with the group. It said that all had fled, all had deserted Jesus and apparently all did (Mark 14:50). If the all is literal, then all eleven of them did. And that would mean that John and Peter were separated from the group later and came into the trial. [They] either changed their mind, or they, for some reason, got in line to come into the trial itself.

John went straight in, but Peter was standing outside. And there was a girl holding the gate or keeping the door and John intercedes. And he goes out and he speaks to the doorkeeper and he says, “Bring Peter in” (John 18:16). So Peter had to be identified to even get into the trial. And in that identification, he was identified as being one of the disciples and that made it very difficult for him to deny that fact.

The response to the high priest’s questioning then was in John 18:20. Jesus said, “I’ve spoken openly in the world; I’ve always taught in the synagogues. You don’t have to ask Me about my teaching. You don’t have to ask me about my disciples. Why question Me? Talk to those who have heard” (John 18:21).

And John 18:22, when Jesus answered this way, the officers gave Jesus a blow, they struck Him. They said, “How can you talk to the high priest in that way?” And apparently Annas’ pride was a little bit stung here too, because he says, “All right, let’s move him on for the next part of the trial.” So in John 18:24, we find him going to Caiaphas, and this is the first of the two trials before the Sanhedrin. This was perhaps maybe 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. In Matthew’s account, “He’s led away to Caiaphas” (Matthew 26:57). As far as the location is concerned, I am speculating that Annas and Caiaphas live in a sort of a villa—it



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was an official residence. It was a place where these great leaders would live very opulent, in all likelihood, and they’d be brought to the courtyard of this large place.

As we continue in the second trial, we find that the scribes and elders were gathered together (Matthew 26:59), in Matthew’s account, and Peter now sits down with the officers to see the outcome (Matthew 26:58). And they are having trouble coming onto witnesses who will help them in this situation (Matthew 26:58-60). You’ll notice that in [chapter] 14:54, of Mark’s account, Peter followed at a distance and he’s warming himself by the fire (Mark 14:54). And the chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death. And they were not finding any.

Now with such a volatile situation and with the Sanhedrin being so reluctant to enter into this very dangerous activity, t would be very unusual for them not to have everything all laid out and all the witnesses or the witness available. The only answer can be that Judas was not available. Judas had dropped out! They had planned on Judas’ performing the function that they are now looking for somebody to perform in the middle of the night, in Mark 14:55. If Judas had been there, Judas would have come forward and said, “I lay the charge against Him of blasphemy,” or whatever charge it was going to be. Judas did not appear. And the reason that the council looked so very foolish trying to obtain testimony against Jesus (imagine bringing a case to court and not having the person to lay the charge. They couldn’t find a plaintiff, is what it amounted to). There were many giving false testimony, yet their testimony was not consistent (Mark 14:56; 14:58). And they kept looking around and they finally found somebody, in Mark 14:57, to give testimony. And all he could say was, “I heard Him say He would destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days He would build it with another, made without hands.”

Well after all, if Jesus has said He’s going to destroy the temple and build it again. If you believe the one statement, you have to believe the other, so you don’t have a problem. They’d just be without a temple for three days, I guess, if that’s how they interpreted it.

In Mark 14:59: “In this, their testimony was not consistent.” He has said, in [chapter] 26:61 of Matthew’s account, “I’m able to destroy the temple of God and to build it again in three days.”



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So they did not really have a case against Jesus. And notice it’s because Judas hadn’t appeared. Where is Judas? We’ll find out in just a few minutes.

In Matthew’s account, 26:62: “The high priest stood up and said, ‘Do you make no answer?’” Well, of course, Jesus didn’t have to answer because there had been no charge laid, really. No official charge that made any sense. And Jesus kept silent and the reason He kept silent is because they hadn’t really made a charge against Him.

Finally, the high priest gets very indignant and he stands up and he says, Matthew 26:63, “I command You by the Living God, that You tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Again, I guess, I have to say this is the ultimate in the origin issue. Now notice what Jesus says in response. He says, “You have said it yourself.” And in Mark’s account, this is interpreted in the translation as actually saying what He meant, “I am” (Mark 14:62). When you say, “You have said it,” that was their way of saying, “Yes, I am.” But notice the passage He quotes. He quotes from Daniel 7:13: “Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” That’s what He quoted in the Olivet Discourse. That’s what He quoted when He referred to the time when He would return to earth and establish His kingdom.

Now notice how the Jews interpreted this. In Matthew 26:65: “Then the high priest tore his robes”—That is in dismay and almost in disbelief. He said, “He has blasphemed. What need do we have of witnesses? We now have heard the blasphemy.” (Mark 14:63). In other words, “We don’t need anybody to lay a charge that He’s blasphemed, because we have heard Him ourselves!” And what was the blasphemy? He was attributing that verse to Himself, a verse which they recognized to be messianic. Very much like the scene in John 5:18 when they said, “He not only breaks the Sabbath, but He now is claiming to be God.” That was at the beginning of His ministry and these same people saying it.

And the high priest turns to the other priests and He says in Matthew 26:66-68, “What do you think, what should we do?” And of course, they, like little puppets, say, “He’s deserving of death.” And they spit in His face and they beat Him with their fists. They slapped Him. And they said, ‘Who [hit You]? Prophesize.” And that assumes that He was blindfolded, which is recorded in chapter 14:65 of Mark’s account.



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Now the essence of the scene here is that they are making an assumption that His claim to deity and messiahship is not true. But let’s think for a moment if it is true. If He really is Messiah, they are in very, very serious trouble. If He is not Messiah, they’ve done the right thing. If He is Messiah, they’ve done a very, very wrong thing.

And that dilemma, with its horns, really comes down to us today concerning the Scripture, the written Word. If the Bible is, as many say, a human book or if it is susceptible to human error—if it is only in errant in those parts which speak of doctrine, but the historical parts may not be trustworthy—[then] therefore, we as men, as human beings, must make a decision as to which parts are trustworthy and which are not. If we are saying, in effect, “That the Bible is not the Word of God,” and it is not the Word of God, then fine. We’ve done a good thing. But if “It is the Word of God”—if it is without error, if it is from God—then we had better be very respectful as to how we treat the Word of God and not try to explain it away or edit it.

In section 230, we find Peter coming up for more denials. In all of section 230 here, we find further denials. You’ll notice that in a note in Thomas and Gundry, he speculates that there may well have been four denials. We had one denial back in section 228, John 18:17, when He says, “I am not” to the slave girl at the door. And in this section 230, we have a denial in [chapter] 26:70 of Matthew’s account that would be denial two. We have what may be denial three then in verse 73 and denial four in verse 74. You can work on that as a project on those various denials.

Interesting little comment in John’s account in John 18:26: “One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with Him?’” If your relative gets his ear cut off by Peter, you notice who it is that cut off the ear. So Peter is trapped on both sides. First, he’s got a relative of Malchus, who identifies him. And second, he’s got the girl at the door, who had to be specially introduced to Peter in order to let him in to identify him. He doesn’t have a chance to be incognito in this situation.

Then we come to this very touching scene in which, in Luke’s account. Luke 22:61: “The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, ‘Before a cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’”



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And in Mark’s account, in 14:72, it says, “Immediately a cock crowed a second time and Peter remembered this statement and he began to weep.” I’m sure that throughout the rest of his life Peter never heard a rooster crow that he did not remember [like in] this scene. [It is] a very, very telling experience.

You know, Jesus was so wise in doing this. He didn’t have to say that. He could have just said, “Peter, you’re going to deny me.” But He said, “Peter, before the cock crows you will deny Me” (Mark 14:30). And so when the rooster crowed, it reminded, it drove it home, to Peter. Perhaps in our lives there are some events, some sounds, some places, that drive home to us a betrayal of Christ or a denial of Him in some way.

So as a result of this, in Luke’s account, in section 230, we find Jesus in custody. They were mocking Him, beating Him. They blindfolded him and they said, “Prophesy. Who is it that hit you?” (Matthew 26:68).

Now in Section 231 we come to the third phase of the Jewish trials which is actually the second one before the Sanhedrin. And the purpose of this trial is again to establish a charge before the Romans worthy of the death sentence. And it goes very much like the second part of the trials (in other words, the one just before it). This one took place after dawn. Notice in section 231, in Matthew 27:1: “When morning had come.” In Mark 15:1: “Early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders and scribes and the whole council, immediately held a consultation.” In Luke’s account, 22:66–23:1, it says, “The council of elders of the people assembled both the chief priests and the scribes . . . and they led Him away to their council chamber.” There seems to be a suggestion here that all of the people involved (that is, all of the Sanhedrin) might not have been there for that second part of the trial.

Why did they do practically the same thing a second time? Some have suggested that “It was not legal to do it before sunrise.” But this has not been really established. It may be part of it, but I personally think that this was such a serious thing and that they had had such a frustrating experience about the witnesses, that they felt a little bit unsure of themselves. They felt a bit uncomfortable. And they were saying, in effect, “Let’s go back and do it again and see if we can do it better the second time.”



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Furthermore, perhaps some more members of the Sanhedrin had come in the meantime. They didn’t really feel that they had a strong enough argument to take to the Romans. When they finished, they didn’t have any stronger than that either. They end up, in Luke’s account, in [chapter] 22:70, with the high priest saying, “Are you the Son of God then?” And He says, “Yes, I am.” They said, what further need have we for testimony.

This brings us to section 232 in which we fade the camera, as it were, out on the Sanhedrin and into the temple area. In Matthew 27:3: “Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.” Notice the “when Judas, who had betrayed Him.” He [Judas] had started the procedure by kissing Him and identifying Him in the garden. But he had not finished the procedure by going all the way to the court. It wasn’t enough to do what he did in the garden. He had to go right into the court scene. And, as we’ve seen, that’s where their problem was: They didn’t have him in the court at the time.

Now it says that when he saw that He [Jesus] had been condemned—when he [Judas] saw that the Sanhedrin was serious about putting Him [Jesus] to death—he [Judas] felt remorse (Matthew 27:3). This tells me that I don’t think that Judas ever really thought that this would eventuate in the death of Christ. Judas did not betray Christ. Judas did not make a deal with the Sanhedrin, I don’t think, in order to get Christ crucified. As a matter of fact, when he found it was going that direction, he pulls out of it. If that’s what he wanted, he would have stayed with it.

So we have two questions: First, why did Judas get involved in this in the first place? And second, having been involved in it, why did he get out of it when it was going along very successfully (at least to that point)? You’ll find in the footnote in Thomas and Gundry some suggestions as to the motivation of Judas. And I rather suspect that the last one is probably the more dominant one. Judas is not one of the Twelve spiritually. Jesus said that in the foot-washing scene. Judas was not regenerated. Judas had other values and other motivations. Judas wanted the power, and he wanted the possessions. He wanted the power that came with being close to the king. He wanted the physical possessions. We know that because he was an embezzler, and he took much of the money for himself. He was very concerned about money. It may be that that scene at Mary’s house, when



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she anointed Him and Jesus made a strong statement there (Mark 14), that that turned something over in Judas’ mind, I don’t know. But I still don’t believe that Judas really wanted to see Jesus put to death. That would accomplish nothing for him, particularly. Incidentally, his interest in money is also noted in the fact that he said, “How much will you give me to perform my function in this?” (Matthew 26:15).

But now money means nothing to him and he throws it down (Matthew 27:5). Why? Because instead of perhaps precipitating what he wanted—namely, Jesus being forced to establish His kingdom, being forced to take a stand, being forced to defend Himself—he finds now that Jesus is going ahead and allowing them to proceed with the move toward the crucifixion. And the leaders are determined to do it. And now he [Judas] wants to pull out of it. And money means nothing to him and he throws it down. And perhaps one of the most hypocritical statements in the whole Bible occurs in Matthew 27:6: “The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.’” Who paid the price of blood? They bought blood with it. Judas didn’t. They did. And now they say they won’t let it be put in the treasury because it is the price of blood. I’m just amazed at that. In the meantime, as you’ve noticed, Judas has gone out and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5).

This now brings us to the first phase of the Roman trial, the civil trial. And there are three of these. The first is before Pilate. The second is before Herod. And the third is before Pilate again. The first and the third are the most important, and of those two, the third is obviously the most telling.

Well we see that they now want to move over to Pilate’s residence. He would be staying in the Fortress of Antonio, which is in the northwest corner of the temple area. Normally Pilate lived at Caesarea Philippi, which was the Roman headquarters, the seat of government, for that part of the Middle East. And he had come down to Jerusalem for the feast. When he comes down for the Feast of Passover—not that he was going to worship there, but rather it was a climaxing event. It was a place where many people would be. And it was his place as the Roman representative to be there to see that order was maintained—he would stay in the fortified place of the Fortress of Antonio. This would be his place of residence and his place of administration while he was in Jerusalem.



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In section 233, in John’s account, they led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas to the Praetorium (John 18:28). It was early. They themselves did not enter into the Praetorium in order “that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover” (John 18:28). Again [this is] a little bit of hypocrisy. So this is just after sunrise. We’ve had the third religious trial just after sunrise, so we’re probably now about 4:00 in the morning.

In John 18:29, Pilate goes out. I want you to notice that four times he goes out of his residence. He has to keep going out because they’re not going to come in. And this is a bit ridiculous too—that the representative of the Roman Empire in Palestine goes out to accommodate them. It shows that he was a weakened person before them. In fact, at this very time there was a senate committee from Rome investigating how he treated the Jews. And you remember that the main policy of the Romans at this time was to keep things in peace in Palestine and that was no easy assignment.

So he goes out from his residence to them and he says, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” (John 18:29). And they say something which would shake up any student of jurisprudence. They said, “If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you” (John 18:30). In other words, “If He weren’t guilty, we wouldn’t have brought Him to you.” Luke’s account enlarges on this (chapter 23:2). And eventually they said:

We found this man doing three things: Misleading our nation (that wouldn’t bother the Romans); forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar (was that true? He said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Mark 12:17). He had said, “Pay your taxes to Caesar”); and He made Himself Christ, a king. That’s who He said He was.

So the first and the third were more or less Jewish concerns. The second one would, of course, be a Roman concern. But apparently Pilate wasn’t very convinced on this. John 18:31, Pilate doesn’t want to have anything to do with this. In John’s account, he says, “Take Him yourselves, you judge Him according to your law” (John 18:31). And then they exposed their weakness, they said, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death” (John 18:31).



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Notice in John 18:32, that “the words of Jesus might be fulfilled signifying what kind of death He was about to die.” In other words, this death sentence had to be executed by the Romans because it had to be crucifixion and only the Romans could crucify.

Now Pilate goes into the Praetorium. He had gone out in verse 18:29. He goes back in, in 18:33. And he says, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He picks up on this third charge that they have made and the one that would be of most interest to the Romans—namely, about kingly authority. Jesus disturbs him greatly when He says, “Are you saying this on your own initiative or did others tell you this about Me?” (John 18:34). Pilate says, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You up to me. What have You done?” (John 18:35). Now “What have you done?” is sort of almost wistful, as though to say, “I don’t know about this king thing. This seems preposterous. This is ridiculous. I can’t understand that. That’s beyond me, but there must be something.” What’s this all about? I think in our language, we would just say, “What’s going on here?” And Jesus picks up on this king concept and He says, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting” (John 18:36). This, incidentally, I think, is one reason that Jesus restored Malchus’ ear—so that they couldn’t even look at one bleeding ear to give as evidence of weakening the case. That this was not to be a kingdom that was to be brought in by sword, by fighting, as other kingdoms were.

Now the “My kingdom is not of this world,” (Matthew 18:36) does not mean that Jesus was not going to do something physical on earth. He is not speaking just of the king of kingdom, but rather of how it is established. Jesus said, “I am not of this world” (John 8:23). That does not mean that Jesus did not have a physical body. Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world.” This does not mean this was purely a spiritual kingdom, as we have seen. Also we might add, about the disciples in John 17, “You are not of this world” (John 17:14). That doesn’t mean that they were spirits floating around.

So He is not speaking here of the kind of kingdom, so much as the source of the kingdom. “My kingdom does not come from armies of this world—like the Romans got their power and the Greeks and the Persians. And in the same way, this is true of me—“That my kingdom does not come this way.”



The Arrest

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Lesson 21 of 24

Pilate said, “So You admit that You’re a king?” (John 18:37). And Jesus said, “You say correctly, I am a king. For this reason I was born, and furthermore, everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). In other words, “Those who hear My voice, those who listen to Me, those who obey Me, they’re My citizens of My kingdom.” And Pilate says, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). And, of course, this has been given great philosophical overtones, and I’m not so sure that Pilate was a great philosopher. He just said, “What is truth,” because Jesus had said, “They hear the truth.”

And now, for the second time he goes out. And he gives his verdict. This is the judge now—the official representative of Roman justice—saying, “I find no guilt in Him” (John 18:38). He tells the Sanhedrin that, and theoretically, by all jurisprudence, this should be the close of the case. And the Jews, of course, don’t accept this. This is a real problem to them. And in chapter 15:4 of Mark’s account, it says, “And Pilate was questioning Him again saying, ‘Do you make no answer? See how many charges they bring against you!’”

And notice in Luke’s account, 23:5: “They kept on insisting, ‘He stirs up the people. He’s teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this place.’” Now they are very disturbed at this because even though He has said He’s a king, Pilate doesn’t accept that as something worthy of death. And [he] comes out and says, “I don’t find Him guilty of anything” (John 18:38). And, of course, that causes a stir in the crowd and they all start to shout, “He’s stirring up the people. He’s teaching all over Judea” (Luke 23:5). But they say one thing wrong. And this is the first of two times in which they talk too much. They say, “Starting from Galilee” (Luke 23:5). “Galilee? Wait a minute! I don’t have responsibilities for Galilee. What am I doing in this?”

Luke 23:6: “When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.” He [Pilate] says, “He belongs to Herod’s jurisdiction, I never did like Herod anyway, I’ll get rid of this man to Herod.” So he sends Him to Herod (Luke 23:7), who is also in Jerusalem at that time. And Pilate’s ready to go back to sleep.

And Herod was very glad when they brought Jesus in (Luke 23:8). And, of course, you remember when he heard about Jesus doing miracles, he thought it was John the Baptist raised from the dead (Mark 6:14).



The Arrest

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Lesson 21 of 24

He’s got all kinds of connections with Jesus there. And he questioned Him at some length. But He answered him nothing. [He] said nothing (Luke 23:10). And the chief priest and the scribes were standing there. They’re “accusing Him vehemently” (Luke 23:10). They are jumping up and down trying to press this case. And Herod, with the soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate (Luke 23:11).

In Section 235, they bring Him before Pilate. And now Pilate has a problem. He’s found Him innocent. But the Jews are insisting that He be put to death. He tries Plan A and Plan B to try to avoid this. These are alternate plans, and I’ll just mention them quickly.

Plan A is:

We allow one person to go free at this time of year at Passover. We give amnesty. Now there’s one person who has done all the things that you say that Jesus has done, about stirring up the people and being a zealot and so on and murdering people, and his name is Barabbas. How would it be if we let Barabbas go free, why don’t we just let Barabbas go free? (Matthew 27:21).

Plan A doesn’t work. They say “No, we don’t want Barabbas to go free” (Luke 23:19).

Plan B is that Pilate scourges Jesus, beats him until, on page 237, the second verse in John’s account, 19:4, Pilate came out again and he says, “I’m bringing Him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Why should he beat Him if he found no guilt in Him? Because he is trying to bruise Him and beat Him so badly that they’ll accept that as a compromise solution. So Plan B is to beat Him that badly. And that’s why at the end of John 19:5, he [Pilate] says, “Behold the man! Look at Him. Aren’t you willing to take this?” And this is the third time that Pilate comes out in John 19:4.

And when they see that he’s bruised and beaten Jesus, they know that they’ve won. They know that they have intimidated him [Pilate], and so they say, “Crucify Him!” (John 19:6). And finally, he in desperation says, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, I find no guilt in Him” (John 19:6). Eight times, incidentally, He is declared to be innocent. As a matter of fact, his wife was



Christ-Centered Learning— Anytime, Anywhere

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The ArrestLesson 21 of 24

reminding him, back in the previous section, that he should have nothing to do with this man (Matthew 27:19).

Then they make their second mistake in talking too much. In John 19:7, the Jews say, “We’re not unreasonable. We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself to be the Son of God.” And Pilate didn’t mind their saying He was a king. But he did mind when they said He was the Son of God. And he was more afraid (John 19:8). And he comes back into the praetorium and he raises himself the origin issue. He says, “Where are You from? And Jesus didn’t answer (John 19:9). He [Pilate] said, “Don’t you know that I have authority to let you go free or to crucify you?” (John 19:10). He might have had the authority to do it, but he didn’t have the power to do it because he was being intimidated by the Jews.

Now he says, “I want to release you.” And he is going to release Him and he comes out and he wants to release Him. But the Jews say to him, in John 19:12, that “If you do this, if you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar’s. Everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”

So what’s happened here? He has been willing to let the Jews take Jesus and crucify Him. Then the Jews have tried to explain themselves by saying that He made Himself to be Son of God. That has brought the whole thing up again because now Pilate is afraid he is going to be putting God to death. And now he wants to release Him again and the Jews use their final argument. They say, “He made himself to be a king!” And finally, when Pilate hears this, he says, “Take him away and crucify him.” At the end of verse 14, “Behold your king! Away with him, crucify him.”

And finally he says to them, in John’s account, 19:15, “Shall I crucify your king?” And they say, “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15). Notice in Matthew’s account, that they saw that they were getting nowhere, that they had to persuade the multitude to come in and demand the crucifixion verdict as well (Matthew 27:23). And he [Pilate] did this to satisfy the multitude and especially to satisfy the Sanhedrin under these very trying circumstances.

This, then, is the end of the civil trial of Christ, and He’s taken out to be crucified.

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The Arrest · 2019-09-16 · ridiculous after Jesus has already, just now, told them that He is Jesus of Nazareth. But this was the plan. So they had to go on with the plan, but it